NEW DELHI: China's ZTE said it is exploring all possibilities to set up domestic mobile manufacturing facilities to better serve the Indian consumers and it will introduce a number of Voice of LTE (VoLTE) ready smartphones under its Blade and Axon handset portfolios to quickly garner a higher market share.

"The Indian government's Make in India initiative is being considered to roll out future prospects of manufacturing centres in India and exploring all the opportunities, this will give us a chance to serve our customers better," Cao Kai, CEO of ZTE India's terminal business, told ET.

A number of Chinese handset vendors including Xiaomi, Lenovo-Motorola, OnePlus, Gionee and Vivo have already kicked off local production of smartphones.

“We have managed to book steady and sustained growth of shipments and rise in market share. ZTE is clear in building its presence in the 250-million strong mobile phone market in India. Our focus for 2016 in India goes beyond volume sales to providing the best value proposition for our consumers, thereby gaining trust and recognition as a mobile technology brand in India,” Cao said, without sharing sales numbers.

According to Singapore-based Counterpoint Research, ZTE had just 0.2% market share in the first quarter of this year. It had a similar market share for the last calendar year. The research firm, however, didn't count ZTE's ODM shipments to Reliance Retail's Lyf handse brand.

ZTE has so far provided around 6 lakh VoLTE smartphone units to Reliance Retail, which re-branded under these devices as LYF branded smartphones. The LYF handset brand emerged as India's fifth largest smartphone player in its first quarter since launch. Besides ZTE, LYF is sourcing devices from other Chinese original device makers (ODM) CK Telecom, Wingtech and Tinno.

ZTE has so far provided Blade, S6, S6 Plus, V53S (Nubia) smartphones, which were priced in the range of Rs 9,500-15,000. Reliance kept the S6 Plus smartphone for internal use, while the other two devices were rolled out under the LYF brand.

“ZTE under its own brand didn’t see any significant traction in India smartphone market in CY 2015. It needs to target the growing mid- to high-end smartphone segment by leveraging its R&D, design capabilities. Its Axon series, which was received well in its home country and some of the developed markets like the US with head turner design, can be a fit in the portfolio by being price competitive at the same time, a trend which was captured by other Chinese brands like Oppo, Vivo, Huawei and Xiaomi in India," said Tarun Pathak, senior analyst at Counterpoint.

Pathak said that being an ODM to some of the brands, ZTE has the know-how on customizing its portfolio as per needs and preferences of end users. "However, it needs to distance itself from competitive entry-level segment and position itself more in affordable premium segment, which was not the case in 2015," he added.

ZTE’s new smartphones under the Blade series will be priced between Rs 5,000 and Rs 14,000, while the Axon series, which is the premium portfolio, will offer devices priced upwards of Rs 20,000.

In totality, the company plans to expand its product portfolio by launching eight smartphones under the Blade and Axon series. The Blade range will have the most economical VoLTE devices available in the country, according to the executive, who said, “ZTE does not view India business for short-term gains but for a sustained long-term commitment of growth and prosperity”.

Besides targeting the entry-level smartphone segment, the handset maker will aggressively tap the premium user market. There is going to be a product thrust with four to five new devices from ZTE that will hit the shelves in the next quarter.

“4G LTE and VoLTE is one of the primary areas of focus for ZTE and we have brought next generation technology in the form of VoLTE in India already. We feel that with the increasing availability of 4G LTE, there will be an equal rise in demand for enabled devices,” the executive said.

The Chinese company also sees an increased demand for its smartphones in enterprise sales. Kai said 4G LTE connection gives businesses the digital clout they need to maximize productivity with other Wi-Fi-enabled devices around them.

In contrast to a majority of Chinese handset makers, ZTE plans to focus more on the offline retail channel. The executive said the company is strengthening its distribution network in northern and southern India and will be making significant investments accordingly.

However, the company is in the discussion phase of finalizing the online partners for some of its products. “Online sales for mobile devices are on the rise and we plan to capitalize on this trend, and we are working on our retail strategy. While there will be an online push for sales, we also have a clear plan for brick-and-mortar retail,” the executive said.

ZTE will also increase its service centres, which it thinks are critical to serve the new customers in the country.

Jio’s Rs 2,399 annual plan offers 2GB per day data that costs effectively Rs 200 per month. It also offers unlimited voice and SMS. Airtel and Vodafone Idea’s Rs 2398 and Rs 2399 annual plans, on the other hand, offer 1.5GB per day data along with unlimited voice and SMS